The US has submitted a joint bid along with Mexico and Canada to host World Cup 2026 and is considered a favorite to land it. Could KC have a chance at being a host city?

I am fairly certain that the field at Arrowhead is too narrow to meet FIFA standards, but could the first few rows on each side be made removable? I have no idea if it could be done at a reasonable cost or not, but I hope it is something that the city and the Hunts are looking at. I'm sure the Chiefs would love some more upgrades to the stadium around that time as well.

Even if the changes/upgrades were made as part of a bid, we would face tough competition to land games. The Hunt family has been an instrumental part of soccer in the US, so hopefully that would hold some sway.

The 2026 world cup will have 48 teams and 60 games to host. 40 games in the US works out to at least 12, but possibly 14, sites. Arrowhead was one of 18 venues submitted with the 2022 bid so it's certainly a possibility that KC could make the cut - especially if they were considered a pair host with Chicago/Dallas.

I seriously doubt they would make the necessary modifications to Arrowhead just to host one or two World Cup games. The only way I see it happening is if those necessary modifications were part of an overall updating of the stadium for American Football games.

aknowledgeableperson wrote:I seriously doubt they would make the necessary modifications to Arrowhead just to host one or two World Cup games. The only way I see it happening is if those necessary modifications were part of an overall updating of the stadium for American Football games.

I'm sorry, but that is ridiculous. The World Cup is the largest sporting event in the world by a long shot and would draw many tens of thousands of visitors from around the world to the city. There will be 60 games in the US, so with an estimated 10-12 host cities in the US, that would be 5-6 games per city, not one or two. The economic impact and global exposure would be huge for the city, and well worth putting some money for relatively minor changes/upgrades to Arrowhead. Many nations build multiple brand new stadiums just to host the World Cup.

With upgrades, the stadium could also be used for other large soccer events, like Copa America, or Gold Cup knock out round games.

WoodDraw wrote:We have a chance, but it's small. The one benefit we have is Sporting KC plus their training grounds, so that's a big plus..

Actually the big plus is the US Soccer National Training Center currently under construction in KCK (along with Sporting's current training grounds in Swope Park). The training center was designed to host multiple teams and should be the best soccer training facility in the nation when it is completed.

Atlanta and Phoenix seem like logical choices over KC if they need more venue locations. Atlanta and Phoenix have both doubled in population since 1990 and they also have a strong foreign population, a large airport,, large hotel capacity and new stadiums.

Kansas City would almost seem like the Manaus of the US in terms of venue/city choices

Selling tickets locally means nothing. Bought tickets to WC games in 94. Only sold over the phone back then and had to buy tickets for the four first round games and one second round game in Chicago (closest to KC), much like any other city. So it is likely in 2026 a person in KC has the same chance to buy tickets as someone in a small town in Maine or in another country. Much of the crowd in Chicago was foreign, following their nation"s team.The 94 games were held in 9 different cities so if there are 12 US cities possible in 2026 KC stands a greater chance but I just don't see it. One of the biggest drawbacks, unless there is a big change, is the number of available hotel rooms or other possible lodging. Another drawback KC would face would be not having another city nearby that would host games. A big complaint in 94 was the amount of travel some teams, and fans, had to do between games from one city to another. The training center also wouldn't mean much since any team could use it before the WC games, and once the games begin there would be quite a bit of traveling from KC to another host city.

No, not having buying tickets, finding cities that can help sell them. Fifa is a business that wants to bring revenue in to pay for the event and not have to do all the work for this.

This would be via private boxes with people paying top dollar. Most cities with a stadium today have a good history of selling football or baseball box seats. The big name games like Germany or Brazil or US ones will sell these easily. But a game like Solvenia vs Paraguay will be a harder sell for local US fans and there's only so many people from a smaller country that will fly to the US period.

So the experience offered in each city will be needed for the sale. People who buy a boxes want to have a good time and not just at the game. Things like how the Royals went downtown and celebrated with fans in 2015, the P&L crowds at past events like the World Cup and so on.

What events a city is willing to help fund around the game, like fan fests.

The selection committee would be stupid not to account for this kind of enthusiasm in potential host cities and the business connections available. Current MLS cities likely are at the top of the list because their owners already know soccer fans.

This isn't 1994, expectations have changed in sports. In 1994 Royals stadium was baseball and hot dogs and beer for most people. Now even the beer has to be better.

You don't get it. The fans don't care about the city the games are in. They care about watching their team play. You could put a Germany game in Wichita and their fans will still buy their tickets. You could put a Brazil game in Midland Texas and it will sell. And you can put a Bulgaria v Greece game in either city and it will sell as many tickets as a Germany or Brazil game. Why? One doesn't buy individual game tickets. One has to buy all of the tickets for the games in that location. It's like season tickets. Fan fests? The game itself is a fan fest.I would imagine the NFL could put the game in Columbia MO and the game would sell out. Or in Buffalo NY. Or in Fargo ND. Why? Because it is the Super Bowl, a game that is so much different than a regular NFL game. Local fans don't matter. It is a national event. And the World Cup is a world-wide event. The fans will go where the games are played.

In 1994 when tickets went initially on sale individual games were not available, only all games for a particular city. Had to order by phone and on the first day we kept trying time after time to get through to purchase the tickets and eventually we did. Internet will make that easier. Now, those were tickets to the general public. Don't know if tickets were allocated to be purchased by people in the nations playing the games. Local buyers were no different than national buyers. Having games in Russia will be quite different than having the games in the good old USA. Of course looking at that picture of that fan fest I doubt the P&L would be able to host a party that size. But notice when the fan fests begin, they were not around in 1994. Anyway, being able to host a fan fest wouldn't be a determining factor in a selection of a host city in my opinion.

There would be a total of 80 games with the US getting 60 of them. The first round will have a total of 48 games. The next round will have 16 games. Third round 8 games. Fourth round 4 games. Semifinals 2 games. Then finals 2 games, 3rd place and 1st place. Canada and Mexico would have their ten games from the first 4 rounds so in one scenario the US would have 40 games in the first round, 8 games second round, 6 games then 2 games followed by the final 4 games. Given those numbers my guess is they would only need 10 US cities (4 opening round games per city) to host games. Later rounds would also be confined to those ten cities. I seriously doubt KC would be selected to be one of those ten cities. Of course it could go the other way and have only 8 cities hosting 5 games each in the opening round. Please note, in 1994 the 36 first round games were hosted by 9 cities.

Orlando does not draw even close to double what KC does. Atlanta and Seattle have much larger stadiums. KC sells out the stadium every week and averages over capacity. If we don't get the World Cup, it will have nothing to do with MLS attendance. In fact, our level of MLS support is probably one of the biggest selling points we have going for us.